D. Pollmann et al., NOISE POWER SPECTRA OF INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED PLASMA-MASS SPECTROMETRY USING A COOLED SPRAY CHAMBER, Spectrochimica acta, Part B: Atomic spectroscopy, 49(7), 1994, pp. 683-690
The influence of the spray chamber temperature and the related aerosol
water loading on ArO+ as typical spectral interference in inductively
coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is studied. Therefore, the
noise power spectra for the ArO+ have been measured by use of fast Fou
rier transform (FFT) analysis. A Meinhard nebulizer and a GMK nebulize
r were used in connection with a cooled spray chamber at a temperature
of 5-25-degrees-C. It could be found that the relative standard devia
tion of the analyte signal in ICP-MS was improved by cooling the spray
chamber. The noise power spectra showed that especially the white noi
se goes down when the spray chamber is cooled. The overall white noise
with the GMK nebulizer is shown to be higher in the case of an Al2O3
slurry than in the case of an AlCl3 solution, containing both 400 mug/
ml Al. The pumping pulse rates are clearly visible in the noise amplit
ude spectra, but their amplitudes decrease at the presence of an impac
tor bead in the GMK nebulizer. Shifts of the noise band around 355 Hz
were shown to occur as a result of the power level and the outer gas f
low as well.